The Monroe Doctrine & Connections to Today

With current events from the Iran nuclear talks, the policy towards North Korea, Russia intervening in Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, and many others, America responds differently to each one.  In the early 1800’s, James Monroe wrote his seventh Annual Message to Congress, which is also known as the Monroe Doctrine.  The Monroe Doctrine has to do with how America should and should not interfere with conflict in other countries if they should at all.  So if tied with a current issue, there are many different decisions America can make if using the Monroe Doctrine as a base to make them.  Any current event affecting the United States can be used, one of them being Russia’s Intervention in Ukraine.  People in Ukraine were very upset with Viktor Yanukovych's decision to attempt in reclaiming Ukraine as part of Russia even though Ukraine is an independent country.  According to Aliaksandr Kudrytski's article, "Russia Sends Aid to Rebel Areas as Ukraine Marks Anniversary", people from Ukraine are marking an anniversary of these conflicts and events starting about a year ago.  Many different events are still occurring during this conflict today, such as Russia sending clothes, medicine, and construction materials into Ukraine.  Also, people are being blacklisted and many are even leaving Ukraine.  The article says, “more than a million people are internally displaced or have fled to neighboring countries as a result of the fighting in eastern Ukraine…”  With so much tension and differing views, the situation between Russia and Ukraine is a very interesting case, and one may wonder what the United States should do if it were to follow the three lasting principles of the Monroe Doctrine.   

A basic idea of what the Monroe Doctrine I saying is, “you stay out of our business, and we will stay out of yours”.  This is backed up by the three lasting principles, which are “separate spheres of influence”, “non-colonization”, and “non-intervention”.  So when comparing it to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, if following this idea, America should not take any physical action in the situation, but should keep an eye out for escalating conflict.  The separate spheres of influence, which is basically saying, “you stay in your region, I’ll stay in mine”, has no real effect on the United States as of now.  This means, if following the Monroe Doctrine, America should not intervene and should leave the situation alone, because Russia has not done anything to affect America directly.  However, this does not mean the United States should completely ignore the situation, because if something does unexpectedly happen that directly affects the United States, America should be prepared to defend itself in order to maintain the safety of its citizens.  The second principle is the non-colonization principle, and it is basically explaining that dominating and ruling other countries is not allowed.  Russia’s trying to reclaim Ukraine does go against this, however the next principle, the non-intervention principle, talks about how America will not take action unless it directly affects the United States.  The article states, “It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense.”  So since the Russian intervention in Ukraine does not affect the United States directly, the United States should not interfere with the conflict if it is following the three lasting principles of the Monroe Doctrine. 

 

 

Kudrytski, Aliaksandr. "Russia Sends Aid to Rebel Areas as Ukraine Marks Anniversary." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 30 Nov. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.